Nik, Can you take a look at the PHP error that is returned now when hitting Dave's site:
http://www.dqsd.net/faq.php Fatal error: Call to undefined function: version_compare() in /home/dqsdweb/dqsdweb/faq.php on line 38 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nikolai Devereaux" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 12:17 PM Subject: RE: [DQSD-Devel] DQSD php faq..? > > Hey John, > > > > I've got the FAQ stuff done and on my end all is happy. Check out > > www.dqsd.net/faq.htm and www.dqsd.net/faq.xml. > > Looks good to me! > > > > My only thing is I still don't understand how to use the php to generate a > > new htm page from the xml page automatically (or is this something done on > > the fly by the browser by visiting www.dqsd.net/faq.php ?). > > > Well, you're sort of right -- the PHP page is what determines whether or not > to generate a new version of faq.htm. The PHP script is run each time a > client's browser requests faq.php, but none of the processing happens in the > browser (client-side). That's the major difference between a server side > language like PHP and a client side one like Javascript. > > Basically, here's how my php script works: > > The PHP script always returns the contents of the HTML file to the client, > so the faq link should point to "faq.php", not "faq.htm" or "faq.xml". If > the HTML file is not out of date, the PHP script simply returns the contents > of the existing file. If the HMTL file is out of date (i.e., when either > the XML or XSL files are newer than the HTML file), the PHP script will > rerun the stylesheet and generate a new html file, then (as always) return > the html file's contents. > > > The reason the HTML file is determined to be out of date" when it's older > than the XML or XSL source files is that if either the XML or XSL file is > newer, then modifications made to those files would affect the resulting > HTML. The HTML file is ONLY considered "up to date" when it's timestamp is > newer than both the XML and XSL source files. > > > > Somehow the xml page is getting updated every day automatically, > > but the htm page still has the date I uploaded it. But again, I > > don't really know what PHP is and how it works and I've been too > > busy lately trying to figure out how to use the timesync ocx in > > a js file to sync PC time. > > > Ah, okay. PHP is a scripting language that's called as a middleman by the > webserver to generate the HTML output it will eventually serve to the > client. > > Normally, when a client requests "page.html", it happens like this: > > +--------+ +--------+ > | | | | > | CLIENT | ===> REQUEST: Show me "faq.html" ===> | SERVER | > | | | | > +--------+ +--------+ > || > || > Find "faq.html" > || > \/ > +--------+ +--------+ > | | | | > | CLIENT | <== RESPONSE: Contents of"faq.html" <== | SERVER | > | | | | > +--------+ +--------+ > > > > With PHP, the server doesn't return the contents of a file, it invokes the > PHP interpreter and passes it the request filename. The PHP interpreter > finds that file and executes it as PHP code, which generates output. The > webserver (e.g. Apache), returns that output as if it were the HTML contents > of the file the client requested. > > > +--------+ +--------+ > | | | | > | CLIENT | ===> REQUEST: Show me "faq.php" ===> | SERVER | > | | | | > +--------+ +--------+ > || > || > Show me "faq.php" > || > \/ > +--------+ > | PHP | > | inter- | > | preter | > +--------+ > || > || > Run "faq.php", > return output > to webserver > || > || > \/ > +--------+ +--------+ > | | | | > | CLIENT | <=== RESPONSE: Output of"faq.php" <=== | SERVER | > | | | | > +--------+ +--------+ > > > > does this clear things up? > > > > Take care, > > Nik > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek > Welcome to geek heaven. > http://thinkgeek.com/sf > _______________________________________________ > DQSD-Devel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dqsd-devel ------------------------------------------------------- This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek Welcome to geek heaven. http://thinkgeek.com/sf _______________________________________________ DQSD-Devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dqsd-devel
